Report: Next Huawei Watch to Run Tizen, Not Android Wear

When the Huawei Watch was first unveiled during Mobile World Congress 2015, it was praised as one of the best-looking smartwatches to have ever been shown off. During 2015 it might have taken Huawei until the Fall to get the Huawei Watch on shelves, it has been one of, if not the best, Android Wear smartwatch available on shelves. With a gorgeous 1.4-inch 400 x 400 AMOLED display, and a great stainless steel build it looked more like a traditional watch than anything else manufacturers had come up with. Available in a number of different finishes and strap options, Huawei gave users the sort of choice that they expect from a high-end, premium watch. Huawei had partnered with Google to use Android Wear on the their first smartwatch, but according to a new report, that might not be the case the next time around.

The Korea Herald is quoting an unnamed Samsung exec as saying that "Huawei was looking for an OS other than Google's Android as the US firm had not been very collaborative." This is likely a reflection on the fact that Google does not allow manufacturers to customize Android Wear when they put it on to their hardware in any way, leaving the likes of Motorola, LG and Huawei to compete on nothing but design and price alone. As such, it appears as though Huawei might be looking to Tizen, an operating system that is managed in a manner similar to the Linux kernel, and sees Samsung making the most of it in their Gear S3 line of wearables for 2016. While the report claims that Huawei is looking to use Tizen in a Huawei Watch follow-up, Samsung have said that they have heard nothing from Huawei to suggest as much.

For Huawei, their Watch was a way in which to get the Huawei brand noticed in different sectors beyond just smartphones for those on a budget, and for a lot of people, it has done just that. Along with the Nexus 6P from 2015 as well, Huawei has furthered their brand presence in the West dramatically. Foregoing Android Wear for Tizen might be something of a mistake, or it could allow the Chinese firm to create similar hardware with software features to match as well as stand out from the rest of the crowd.